June 30th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with cheese
Lunch: 3 oz of almonds
Dinner: Spicy stir fry and green salad.

Really tired... going to bed no pictures sorry :(

June 28th, 2009

Brunch: Spicy Pork stir fry with baby bok choy

Dinner:Chicken Cheese burger and a green salad

Snack: 1/2 of a pickle

June 27, 2009

Brunch: Cheesy scrambled eggs and cherry tomatoes

Dinner: Spicy pork, green salad and fresh pickles

Snack: LC fudge X2

Hey LC...Yes?? You have cucumbers coming out of your ears

*all cut up ready to snack.. the end piece was perfect..

*the cucumbers were so long I had to cut them in half to fit the bag

*the smallest of four bags that I made :)

What do you do when your friend brings buy 15 pounds of cucumbers?? The day after your in laws filled up your refrigerator with the long green spears of goodness??

You make LC Garlic and mustard pickles :)

Stay tuned for the recipe and info :)

LC Garlic and Mustard pickles

Dry Brine

170 grams / 3/4 of a cup of your favorite sweetener ( I used half Splenda and half Lan Guo)

50 grams of Salt

14 grams of Mustard ( Use your favorite mustard, Dijon mustard or equivalent of dry mustard)

1 T of garlic powder ( You can use fresh if you have it)

2 pounds of cucumbers

Mix the brine ingredients together in a bowl . Put the cucumbers and brine mix into a gallon sized zip lock bag. Massage the brine into the cucumbers. Place in refrigerator. After three hours take the bag our and massage the cucumbers again. The dry brine should now be a yellow liquid. Massage the cucumber every chance you get.. about every 6 hours.. they are edible after 24 hours but taste much better after 72. Even better after a week :) Enjoy!!!

*still have 1 and 1/2 bags of Splenda to use...

June 26th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs, 1/2 tomato and some crispy thin sliced pork
Lunch: Hamburger steak with cheddar cheese
Snack: 2 pieces of low carb fudge
Dinner: was really tired do I just whipped up some brakfast wraps and called it good..

no pictures sorry

June 25th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with ham and cheese
Lunch: At McD's Double quarter pounder no bun or condiments, side salad and half a medium Coke zero
Dinner: Spicy Beef and a green salad

Snack: Hamburger steak and piece of low carb fudge

June 24th, 2009

Breakfast:　３ scrambled eggs

Lunch: Spicy Chicken and veggie melt

Dinner: Asparagus and and sauteed mushrooms and thinly sliced Super Spicy pork

Snack 3 oz mixed nuts ( Walnuts, almonds and cashews)

Bite: 2 bites of corn on the cob doused in butter

Today, my friend brought buy six beautiful ears of freshly picked corn. I have decided that at times like this where it is something unique to the current season and will not throw me off plan tha. tit is okay to have two bites of something like corn today or watermelon like yesterday. The key here is not binging on it but just getting a taste. No need to deprive my self of that!

However, sugar and other high carb stuff is still off the list of eat a little once in a blue moon..

June 23rd, 2009

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and 1/2 tomato

Lunch: 3 ozs of pistachio's

Snack: 1/4 cup broccoli, 1/4 tomato and left over spicy pork

Dinner: Mexican Chicken and a large green salad

Dessert: 2 bites of watermelon and 1 sugar free jello

June 22, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs and 1/4 tomato
Lunch: 3 ozs of Almonds
Dinner: Spicy Pork, green salad and brocolli

Sorry for no picture I was in a hurry and starving.. did not feel like taking apicture of something half eaten hehe

June 21st, 2009

Breakfast: 3 Scrambled eggs and tomato and cucumbers

Lunch: Blackened Tuna with fresh pickled cucumbers, tomato slices and tarter sauce.

Dinner: Hamburger steak with a green salad

Well, today the rainy season started..it will rain for the next month;( I was just getting into the exercise groove..I guess I will have to get on that exercise bike..but I am not comfortable on it as it was designed with a Japanese frame in mind not a gargantuan American..LOL

I will hopefully be able to add more tuna into my diet. Many people love salmon but I prefer the mellow taste of tuna. I should get some good Omega's from eating the fish and hopefully bring my Omega 6 and 3 ratio into better proportion..over the next several months. I am currently looking for some supplements that are LC friendly but don't cost an arm and a leg to purvey them.

good luck every one!!

More support than a grown man can handle..

There are many things in my life that I would love to have a chance to do over. Many of us are fighting many of the same demons. You know those pesky little things that tell you its okay to eat that piece of cake, drink that beverage, skip that exercise and the list goes on.. well, it just doesn't end. But then there are the Angels. You know the ones that are always at your side encouraging you to do your best and never give in.. In my life, those Angeles take shape in my four children. See the day after my daughter helped me stay on the exercise path there were three other little angels waiting for big ole Dad to go out and exercise. All prodding me on.. encouraging me with words like, " Dad, I can't wait till you can run with us!! or I hate running at school but I love running with Dad!" In order to put the effort of my children into perspective..every morning they walk 2.6 Kilometers to school and 2.6 kilometers back. (elementary school is 2.6 K away but Jr. high is next door) Then there are the moments that go on and on to cherish forever. Like when your daughter looks at you with a face riddled with pain and and rejection because you pull your hand out of hers because you are too tired from your exercise to grip it any more. ( last lap) So cute! Then to have the little angel realize that you are tired and come back with, "Okay but tomorrow you have to hold my hand the entire time!" So there is one thing that I did do right in my life and that was having my four wonderful Angels!!

Here is my take on priceless..

60 K for medical expenses related to birth
160 K for college tuition
Spending quality time with your children, Price-less.

June 20th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with Taco meat and tomato slices
Lunch: Baha Bob's Sirloin Chops and a green salad.
Dinner: Blackened Tuna steak and sauteed mushrooms and asparagus

On a whim last night I poured Baha Bob's Margarita Mix over some Taco seasoned sirloin chops and let them marinate over night. I pan seared them then finished them off in the oven. How to describe these... Yummo!! If you love margarita's you will be crazy for these.. I am going to play with this recipe for a while and see if I can get all the ingredients and ratios perfect.. in the mean time if you have some Baja Bob's gathereing dust in your pantry get it out and give it a whirl!!!

June 19th, 2009

Breakfast: none

Lunch: Taco meat and scrambled egg burritos with fresh pico de gallo

Dinner: McD'S 1/2 lber hold everything but cheese and meat, side salad with Sesame dressing sweetened with Stevia.

Snack: Yakitori

Really busy day.. but today I took my children out and about. First we went to the video store and signed my soon to be teenage daughter up for her first membership card. Then we rented several videos and departed for McDonald's. I splurged and got the double quarter pounder & side salad set with a Coke zero. My son ate my cheese sandwich.. ( I can never get the top layer of cheese off my bun so I just make a cheese sandwich out of it and give it to one of my children!)

After that I took the munchkins to Baskin Robins for ice cream sandwiches.. I didn't have any of course! Then we came home and spent the evening watching one Japanese Anime and Splenglish with Adam Sandler. It was not your normal Adam Sandler type movie.. rather pleasantly surprised :)

July 18th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs and Taco meat

Lunch: Green Salad and 1 pork sirloin steak

Snack: 3 Oz's mixed nuts

Dinner: Hamburger steak lettuce and 1 cup of creamed broccoli

Saved by Emily...

Last night, I was beat, dead tired and I had not exercised for the day. I was thinking I would just bag the nights exercise. When in between classes my daughter came into office and said, " Dad, I have a favor to ask. Will you go out with me tonight and exercise? You can walk, and I will run!" I looked at her and answered, "Sure honey I would love to." So when all my classes were done, she was waiting for me and we spent 30 minutes on the track.

Walking to the track, I was able to spend some quality one on one time with my daughter. Although, it was a short lived time.. see I am very lucky! I live right next door to my daughters' junior high school track field. It took a whopping 30 seconds to get from our entry way to the track. hehe

It was fun listening to tunes on my i-pod and watching my daughter smile as she continually lapped me. The thing that was interesting is that I actually had the urge to start jogging..and I did for the first time in..well I am embarrassed to say.. When Emily was on her cool down 2 laps she walked them with me.. so much fun enjoying time with my fast maturing daughter..

So have no reason not to exercise. Emily and I have made a pact to exercise every night throughout the summer. This is the push that I needed to increase my exercise. So it makes me ponder.. who is the locomotive and who is the Caboose on the exercise express?? Well, hopefully I have turned over a new leaf! For those of you that have not gone out and exercised, today, Get off your caboose an go! The only thing that is stopping you is yourself! Good luck! Exercise, eat well and be healthy!

ps This is the track as viewed from our second floor balcony! Yes, I live on the outskirts of town. hehe

June 17th, 2009 Sabotaged by the translators...

Breakfast: 1 egg( cries we were out) *will post picture in a few hours...
Lunch: 2 sirloin pork steaks and about 2 oz of nuts
Snack 45 gram of smoked cheese
Dinner: 2 Tacos with homemade low carb Taco seasoning

Well, today was hump day and I am beat. I teach, and in the last two days I have taught 22 lessons. Yes, one week worth of lessons in 2 days. For anyone in the education field..you know how how draining mentally and physically that can be.　But in my case you have to factor in weather. See in Japan they don't believe in air conditioning or heating school classrooms. So can you imagine teaching those classes on 30 to 32 degree(Celsius) heat which is not so bad..but add in 70% humidity and voila you have a low grade sauna. Hehe

Sabotage.. You know Dr. Atkins preached reading labels.. something that I have done religiously for the past five months. Yet, I failed to read one label of my favorite spice mixes. See, I love this Organic Taco seasoning I get in bulk from Costco. The other day I read the label and I did not understand one of the characters in Japanese so I peeled off the Japanese translation nutrition label so I could read the label in English. Guess what I found.. Yes :S My favorite seasoning mix has SUGAR in it. Argh.. the Japanese translation does not contain SUGAR in the ingredient list. So, unfortunately that mix is going to be used up on the kids..hmm Taco Soup should make a major dent.......

Anyway the good news is I whipped up my own version of Taco seasoning! This is not your ordinary garden variety mix either. I I kicked it up a notch by adding one table spoon of cayenne pepper and sweetened it with LakantoS. The taste.. wonderfully spicy with a sweet draw to finish out the palette. So sabotage or not.. I learned a valuable lesson and created a new mix that I like better!

For Anne :)

Taco Seasoning

3 T chili pepper

1 T oregano

1 T paprika ( for richer flavor use smoked paprika)

1 tsp salt

3 tsp cumin

3 tsp garlic powder

3 tsp onion pepper

1-3 tsp of your preferred sweetener that can handle heat..or leave out :)

Cayenne pepper to desired heat.. I recommend starting with 1 tsp and going up or down depending on taste

Mix together and store in an airtight container :) I used it on a pork sirloin steak for lunch today and it was very good. I did add a little lime juice and let it marinate for a little while. If you like Fajitas you will like this :) Also if you have other spices like cardamon or curry that are collecting dust in your cup board add some to the mix and make your original mix.. I do ! All the time and most times I am very pleased with the results :)

June 16th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs and bacon

Lunch: Sprout Salad with Smoked Cheese and dressing.

Dinner: Hamburger steak and broccoli.

June 15th, 2009

Breadkfast:none

Lunch: 2 Fried eggs, 2 slices of bacon and a ribe eye steak

Snack: a handful of unshelled peanuts

Dinner: hmmm.. The kids are going out to Ramen tonight with a close friend so... I must think about dinner hehe

Well, it's Monday here in Japan. I feel it is time to get out, and do something.. hmm.. maybe I will even get on the train! :)

June 14th, 2009

The dish all roasted up and plated..minus the starchy veggies that my kids love so much!

A before roasting shot of the dish.

Yay :) finally caught up on posts !!

Breakfast: 3 eggs

Lunch: Assorted nuts and smoked cheese

Snack: Last of the LC cookies

Dinner: Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Medely

Today, I needed a recipe to use up vegetables. So I took every vegetable out of the fridge, choppped and diced added some seasoned chicken, olive oil, salt pepper, garlic, thyme, cumin, sesame seeds and some fresh ginger placed all in a roasting pan and slow roasted for 2.25 hours. Check out the pics it was yummo!

PS the carrots and potatoes are for the kids hehe

June 13th, 2009

Breakfast; 3 scrambled eggs and bacon
Lunch: Cheese and stewed cabbage.
Dinner : Spicy pork over greens.
Snack: 2 oz Almonds

June 12th, 2009

Breakfast: Eggs

Lunch: Assorted nuts.

Snack: 1 more LC cookie

Dinner: Steak and broccoli and a small salad. (Hopefully a pic will be added later)

Today, my children celebrated Father's Day early for me as I have to work next week on Father's day. My children usually give me my favorite snacks or candy for a present. (All high carb :( ) But this year.. I got mixed nuts, sugar free gelatin, and peanuts! They went shopping on there own and picked these out for me on their own.

It is wonderful to have the support of my children, Keeping me going. Because when it comes down to why I am really doing this.. it is for them. They are truly a blessing to me.

June 11th, 2009

Breakfast: 1 LC cookie.

Lunch: Double quarter pounder minus the condiments and bun.

Snack: 1 oz of pistachios

Dinner: 3 eggs and bacon.

sorry no pictures

LC Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffin Top Cookies

A friend of mine brought some zucchini by, so I decided to create a new LC recipe incorporating the fresh zucchini. This is what I came up with. I used Splenda for half of the sweetener because I need to use it up. Rating these cookies..well they are definitely better than the carrot cake cookies.. so I give them 4 stars :)

Ingredients

2 cups coconut flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1 cup of wheat bran

1 cup Splenda

1 cup LakantoS (Natural erythritol)

8 eggs

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 a bag of carb smart mini chocolate chips

2 cups of fresh shredded zucchini

1 cup of canola oil (or you might try 1/2 cup coconut oil and 1/2 cup canola oil)

Directions

Beat the eggs in a large bowl until light and frothy. Mix in vanilla, oil and sweeteners and mix well.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients together. Add the mixed dry ingredients to the wet, add the zucchini and stir to combine. Finally, stir in the carb smart chocolate chips. The batter will have the consistency of a good cookie dough.

Drop by an ice cream scoop onto a cookie sheet, invert the scoop and flatten the ball into a a thick cookie shape and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. The cookies will not spread out so what you see when dropped is what you get. Eat warm or let them cool down.

Amino Calpis Zero

What is it:

Calpis is my favorite milk based beverage in Japan. Unfortunately, in its original form it contains way too much sugar and is non conforming to a LC lifestyle. That is where the Amino version comes in! It contains zero sugar and is sweetened with erythritol :) and unfortunately, the normal cocktail of artificial sweeteners that I am finding more and more often with sugarless products are also listed on the ingredient list.

Taste: Tastes very much like a light version of the original.

Price: Costs the same as the original. ( about $1.25 for 16 ozs)

Verdict: Although Amino Calpis is fortified with 6 different Amino acids and is a natural probiotic. The cocktail of sweeteners does this beverage a disservice and takes away from the from the overall health benefits of drinking this beverage. Therefore this is regulated to the drink as a treat once in a blue moon arena. If you love Calpis and need a fix give it a whirl :)

June 10th, 2009

Breakfast: 6 slices of Bacon and 1 Medium Tomato (ran out of eggs :S)

Lunch: Steak Wraps with LC wraps.

Snack: The last three pieces of the sugarless chocolate

Dinner: Hamburger steak and stewed cabbage

A while back I ordered 2 packs of LC tortillas from Netrition. However, after reading the ingredient label.. I have a hard time believing the list carb count. Nevertheless I tried them today for the first time. They were really good. I have always been a fan of whole wheat bread and these are definitely whole wheat. The taste lends itself to make the normal culinary treats that are made with the more traditional white flour, lard laden originals.

I think I will be eating these once a week until they are gone.. and I will see if there is any change in my weight loss. If I slow down then I will stop using them.. until I reach my goal and I am enjoying LC life in maintenance mode..

As I was writing this.. I was just thinking how tasty a wild mushroom, asparagus, sauteed onion, steak and cheese quesadilla would be...garnished with fresh Salsa or Pico de Gallo and guacamole... Stay tuned folks cuz next week that will be on the menu! :)

June 9th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs

Lunch: Steak Ribeye, fresh brocolli and butter and 2 pieces of cheese

Snack: 3.75 ozs of mixed nuts Almonds, Cashews and Walnuts and 1 Amino Calpis Zero

Dinner: Pork sirloin steak and green salad.

June 8th, 2009

Breakfast: Eggs scrambled with leftover spicy pork.
Lunch: Atkins Bar
Snack: 2 slices of cheese
Dinner 2 pork sirloin steaks and stewed cabbage.

Today, I taught 11 straight classes..basically, from 8:30 am to 9:00 pm.. so I am kinda bushed.

I think I will do a review on my new scale..hopefully, I will have it up soon :)

Tomorrow, I have 7 classes then it slows down from there..so the hardest day is done!

will post pictures of dinner after I eat... I have a ten minute break between classes so I am throwing this up now so I don't get behind :)

June 7th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 eggs

Lunch: 2 hamburger steaks and stewed cabbage

Dinner: Spicy pork.

Sorry no pictures, today. I was very tired so I went to bed early.. But I feel great today, even after teaching 7 classes :)

Monthly Weigh in

Well, the scale arrived this morning! I was really excited to see how much I lost during the time period as I have moved away from Atkins Bars, and many other artificial sweeteners. But I must say that I was rather upset with the results and I should not be!!

I lost only 10lbs between weigh ins...

I know that is a normal weight loss but when you have as much as I do to lose.. I just sat down and realized that it will be 2 years before I reach my weight loss goals at this rate.. I would really like to lose 15 to 20 lbs a month.. although it may not be realistic..

So what to expect for the next month?? Well, I am going to keep doing what I am doing now but I am going to increase my activity level. I have my plans and goals and I will let you know how I do on my next weigh in! I encourage anyone that wants to join me in doing there own exercise regime and telling the results here or in another forum. Harry has boarded the exercise train and I am on the platform and I can hear the train conductor in the background.." All aboard!!" Okay, I have to board now I will report the results on my next weigh in!!

All aboard the LC Exercise Express bound for weight loss success!!

June 6th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs
Snack: Nice Green Salad.
Lunch: The McD's LC special (half pounder with cheese hold everything else :)

Snack: 1 oz of almonds and 1 oz of cashews
Dinner: 3 pork sirloin steaks and a green salad

Well, I must thank my wonderful 12 year old daughter! She took the pictures and made all the food I ate, today!! How cool is that??

When I was young my mother and father both encouraged my older sister and myself to spread our wings in the kitchen. ( Both of my parents are very good cooks!!) In fact by the time I was 12 I could cook better than many full time house wives with a culinary repertoire that ranged from American foods to Italian, Japanese and Chinese foods. Of course, I loved to bake as well!!

Often baking up some brownies or chocolate chip cookies when I wanted a snack. Or a Sunday dessert like, "Crazy Cake" a chocolate cake that is made entirely in the pan it is baked in and is one of the most moist and decadent cakes I have ever eaten!

There are so many lessons learned in the Kitchen! So as a parent of 4, I have always tried to encourage my children to learn the joys of cooking!! There is nothing more relaxing and fun than going into the kitchen and whipping up some new bedazzling dish with the help of my four beautiful children.

Recently, Emily has taken it upon herself to help out in the kitchen! When I am making their dinner she makes mine!! Kids are truly amazing creatures.. they are an investment that pays back more and more if you take the time to pay attention and truly invest your heart and soul into them and their lives!

Love ya, Emily!!

June 5th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 eggs and a hamburger patty

Lunch: Left over mixed steak patties and 1 small tomato

Dinner: Pork tenderloin medallions and a small Green salad.

Sorry, no pictures today...I forgot to take them hahaha

June 4th, 2009

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs

Lunch: Two Hamburger mixed meat steaks and brocolli.

Snack: 2oz cashews ( I ate 1 oz too many...)

Dinner:Beef Stirfry with mushrooms, green onions, asparagus and shirataki.

Well, last night I went shopping and I was looking for some ground beef. Unfortunately, there was only about half a pound of ground beef left at the store. But I found ground pork, ground chicken, ground lamb and ground turkey. So I bought a pack of each and today I mixed them all together with some spices and garlic and made a bunch of steaks out of them.

How did they taste?? They were very good!

June 3rd, 2009

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs

Lunch: Spicy pork salad

Dinner: Pork stirfry with daikon and asparagus.

Snack: 3 oz Almonds

Well, what do think of the new layout of the blog?? I was bored the other night and started playing arond with it and this is what I came up with :)

June 2nd, 2009

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and 1/2 tomato

Lunch: 2 Hamburger steaks with cheese, a green salad and Japanese Red Daikon Pickles.

Dinner: Stir fried Pork and veggies

Snack: Ross Sugarless Milk Chocolate

June 1st, 2009

Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with cheese and 1/2 a tomato sliced with salt and pepper and mayonnaise.

Lunch: none

Dinner: 3 spicy pork sirloin steaks and a green salad.

I fell asleep this afternoon..so I missed lunch. I was fairly hungry for dinner, I ate one too many steaks..won't do that again :(

May 31st, 2009

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and bacon

Lunch: 1 Carrot Cake Cookie

Dinner: Beef Stirfry

Snack: 1 Carrot Cake Cookie

Today was a lazy Sunday. Did not do much..just hung out with my kids.